a little sassiness, a little satire and the search for satisfaction

Month: December 2016

Far out, this parenting gig is hard sometimes. Last night was a complete clusterf*ck of epic proportions. Ended with 2 kids in tears and this hot mess Mama sitting on the bathroom floor puking. My kids are struggling, after almost 2 years of their dad and I being separated, they are still struggling.

I’m not sure if its the same in all relationships but my kids are the most important people in my life and right now – nothing I can say or do is enough for them. They don’t want to have anything to do with their father’s girlfriend. They absolutely cant stand her, and the bit that scares me is that they are making real sense. It would be easier if they were just being shit heads who were pitching a fit because they don’t like something (like brussel sprouts) but they aren’t. They are desperate to know why there seems to be a different set of rules for them than there is for dad’s girlfriend. And I tried to explain that there had to be a different set of rules, they are his children and she is his girlfriend. But when she is behaving like an immature brat and is closer to their age than his… well its difficult to fucking explain.

My son is indifferent to her, and my daughter – well, she’s jealous. And she delivered up some pretty harsh fucking truths to me. She called bullshit on the girlfriends behaviour and kicked my arse for trying to justify what happens. Kicked my arse for making excuses for him letting her down. But what the hell am I supposed to say to her?

I don’t know what else to do, or how to make this all okay for them. So for last night, I held them and cuddled them til they stopped crying, then tucked them into their beds just like I have done every night since he left. And then I went and had a big horrible cry until I threw up, and sat on that bathroom floor and gave thanks that I get that privilege. That I am the one that gets to tuck them in every night and that we have the sort of relationship where they can tell me all of that gut-wrenching shit, even when its horrible and we all end up sobbing and snotty nosed.

And this morning, I woke them up early and rushed them through breakfast and skipped chores so that we could escape together and go on an adventure.

We jumped in the car and headed down south, not really certain on where we were going, singing stupid songs at the top of our lungs. We ended up at a lake that I had always wanted to go to, that we had always talked about going to as a family. So we did. I think it has finally sunk in, that the family unit has morphed a little now. That if I still want all those things I had better find a way to be brave enough to do them, sometimes with my kidlets, sometimes on my own. The elements of this life might not fit the mould of what I thought they would be like, but there is a way to make it all work still. I’m just gonna have to be a little brave…

When I saw this prompt I felt a little overwhelmed! Life has kinda kicked my ass this last couple of months and this week with all the Christmas chaos, I have definitely felt some renewal is necessary in my life. The problem is, I don’t even know where to start…

We spent Christmas with family and extended family and my ex was here for the whole thing. His girlfriend was away for Christmas with her own family, and the kids were stoked to have their dad all to themselves. I was happy to have him with us too. It felt like old times, him kicking back with the kids while I was in the kitchen preparing enough food to feed a small army, watching him cracking stupid jokes with my dad and telling my brother about his latest motorbike adventure… I missed having my family together.

Then his girlfriend came back early, and I’m left with 2 heart broken kids and a complete mess. I really thought I was doing the right thing by having him spend the holiday with us all but clearly, nothing has changed. Were one dysfunctional bunch of weirdos that no matter how much love there is – its just not going to be enough for him. Whatever that even means!

Renewal… I guess the best place to start will be with my car registration! At least that’s easy!